Before considering a career in aviation, East San Jose local and private aircraft Michelle Galvis considered starting her own firm five kilometers from Reid-Hillview Airport.
” I’ve often been behind the ball, I’ve often been trying to play catch-up my entire life”, Galvis said. And so I’m faced with the same Bay Area issue where I’m only trying to make ends meet and attempting to avoid a two-hour commute.
Her brother, George Rodriguez, was the owner of a welder business. He gave her the chance to operate with him because she was constantly undervalued the same way he was.
No one gave me a chance in life, Rodriguez said, and I wanted to show people that maybe she can do it through me and what I endured to achieve what I did.
Nowadays, the piece are working together as the owners of Hera School, San Jose’s second volunteer aircraft club, which opened on April 20 and began training in June.
While working together, the two bonded over their shared youth experience as” the losers of our home”, Galvis said, and they started taking aircraft training up.
When he gave me the chance to travel and he sponsored my private pilot license, Galvis said,” I wish I had had this opportunity earlier because I may have gone much further along in my aerospace job.” That is why the nature of Hera was born, Galvis said.
Galvis claimed that as part of their attempt to get a hangar for their apprenticeship program, they referred to themselves as an aviation academy because of the variety of services they offered, including private pilot training programs and drone training.
The pair claim that the school has three objectives in mind: involving the nearby East San Jose community in airport operations, and providing resources for that area. They also have the idea of breaking the glass ceiling for women entering aviation careers.
According to Pilot Institute, women made up , less than 10 %  , of all pilots in 2022.  , A 2023 study analyzing women and ethnic minorities in commercial aviation , stated that 6.1 % of all aircraft pilots and flight engineers were Latino or Hispanic in 2021, according to data from the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
” I think one common misconception is,’ Success is linear, there’s only one way to making a decent living in this area,’ and that’s not the case. And this opens up so many opportunities”, Galvis said.
For students who want to obtain a private pilot license, the school offers two free programs and one reduced program. Classes are available for aspiring pilots as young as 16.5 years old, at costs significantly lower than the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association’s estimate of between$ 6, 000 and$ 20, 000 for pilot training.
While Hera School is self-funded, they are still pursuing grants to keep the flight school open and scholarships for their students. Hiro Takai, the owner of nearby flight school Nice Air, rents out a space to the school, which helps keep costs low.
” We needed this competition. We have to share with the students”, Takai said. ” Every school has its unique program, everybody knows each other. Especially at this airport, everybody, friend. Every school, friend”.
Hera School also holds weekly ground classes and distributes students with books and headsets in order to keep their programs affordable. Additionally, they loan iPads to students and maintain an electronics library. The school also has a flight simulator.
The school only has one plane, a Cessna-172 single-engine plane with fixed landing gear, which Rodriguez bought after selling an older plane.
We do n’t want to make students have to navigate too many obstacles. We want to make it easy and accessible to them”, said Adalia Herrera, executive director of Hera School.
Through the numerous connections Galvis and Rodriguez made, Hera School was established, allowing students to mentor others in the aviation industry.
Through knocking on doors and giving presentations at churches in nearby neighborhoods, Galvis, Herrera, and board secretary Alexandra Hames collaborated to reach out to the community and promote the school. The League of United Latin American Citizens, CompassPoint Mentorship, and the Experimental Aircraft Association all backed the school’s establishment.
” Typically, you do n’t envision Latina women as pilots, they make up a very, very low percentage of pilots overall, and I think that’s something that can definitely change”, Hames said.
One of the school’s first student, Karina Maciel, 26, of San Jose, saw Galvis give a presentation on Hera School at her church.
According to Maciel, who had a long interest in flying, she attended the grand opening of Hera School with the intention of getting her private pilot license. She added that she hopes to continue training female students and obtain her commercial pilot license.
According to Maciel, who grew up on the east side of San Jose,” It’s kind of like there are n’t these kinds of opportunities available, especially for the females but for everyone in the community,”
As a high school student in San Jose, Amaris Ayon Zarate had a passion for aviation both as a hobby and profession, but was initially turned down because of how expensive the training is. Hera School, according to Zarate, would allow her to obtain both private and commercial licenses. She stated that she intends to one day fly for the Air Force.
Galvis said the next step is to expand the school’s fleet of airplanes and provide transportation for students from their schools to the airport as she contemplates the school’s future. Herrera stated that she will continue to look for grants to keep the school operational.
” This is something we’re doing for love. We’re not getting rich, we’re not making any money right now. We want that self-satisfaction”, Rodriguez said.
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